Malta’s military marvels

Fate occasionally leads travellers to places they had never planned to visit. Into this category, for me, fell Malta. I went to Valletta to see my sister, who was at a nursing conference. I wasn’t expecting a wild party; the island has a reputation for being fairly dry compared with its Mediterranean sisters. Yet for a certain type of traveller, with sturdy shoes and an interest in military history, Malta is a matchless trove. I plotted my campaign around the island’s key martial landmarks carefully. Time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted. My sister, inexplicably, made her excuses.

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Gavin Mortimer

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Valletta is still dominated by reminders of the Knights Hospitaller, the crusading order that relocated there after being booted out of the Holy Land by the Ottoman Turks. The Knights made modern Valletta, but they had a lot to work with; the harbour is one of the world’s great natural fortifiable seaports, hilly, rugged and with numerous inlets. Alongside the crusader forts, I discovered baroque churches, paintings by Caravaggio and the former Hospitaller and Royal Navy hospitals. Malta was a Royal Navy base for many years, and plenty of naval families have fond memories of the island, including, apparently, the Queen and Prince Philip.

A short bus trip inland, and I arrived at the fortified city of Mdina, with a Carmelite monastery open to the public. When I asked the girl at the ticket office why only a few monks remain, she replied: ‘Too boring.’ For her, perhaps. Tucked discreetly into the walls of Mdina is the Xara Hotel, a favourite of the Pitt/Jolies. Is Brad a fellow military history enthusiast? He spent part of his honeymoon at the Bovington Tank Museum, after all.

The Maltese archipelago’s strategic location in the Mediterranean has made it highly desirable as a maritime base, and many a battle has been fought over the island.